Old diesel

Set2sea · May 10, 2013, 08:48:58 AM

Well I went to the boat last night prepared to pull the fuel tank for removal and cleaning. I removed the fuel pick up tube from the tank and did find the dreaded screen filter. So of course I yanked that out. Ahah, so all the critical upgrades haven't been done on my boat! Again this 88 C34 is new to me as of last week and has been on the hard for the last three years.
The next thing I did was to put a measuring stick down into the fuel pick up port to measure how much diesel I had in the tank (batteries not on board yet). As luck would have it, I have a completely full tank. I really don't want to pump out and deal with 40 gallons of fuel! After inspecting the yanked screen filter, not seeing any "mud" on it and doing some probing of the bottom of the tank, I reasoned that maybe I could wait until next year to clean the tank (God knows I have enough to do on BuddyB to get her in the water).

So here is my question – Could diesel this old (3 years+) be a problem. I know there is additive so diesel won't go bad but what about treating old fuel? In Boston, we say "We love that dirty water" (Referring to the once very polluted Charles river). This fuel looks pretty brown.
I did scan the Tech Sheet and forum posts and didn't find anything in particular

Jeff Tancock · May 10, 2013, 08:59:59 AM

Sounds like you are going to have lots of fun making this boat yours!
As for the fuel.....I've had to deal with bad diesel. Not fun. I wouldn't use it myself, but you could at least syphon off a little of it into a clear container. Look at it and decide for yourself. It's not that big of a deal to dump it into a fuel recycling tank at our marina. There should be somewhere to dump it responsibly. Remember there's only 20 gallons in there. Good luck and welcome to the collective!

AT Phillips · May 10, 2013, 10:49:06 AM

Set2
Welcome! I agree with Jeff. Old diesel may cause you engine troubles. Adam

Les Luzar · May 10, 2013, 11:13:44 AM

Set,
You might love dirty water but you won't like dirty fuel ! If you decide to replace the fuel you can easily pump it out using your boats fuel pump. Once your batteries are installed, make sure your fuel line from the tank is routed to your primary fuel filter/water separator then to the fuel pump input. Disconnect the fuel line to your engine from the fuel pump output and use it to route it to your fuel container. When you turn your ignition key on the first position, your fuel pump will activate and begin pumping your fuel from your tank into your container. You can start and stop this process from your cabin by using your battery on/off switch as needed.

Indian Falls · May 10, 2013, 04:48:10 PM

I wouldn't throw that fuel away. Have a look in the tank... you're half way there already if you've got the sender out. If not, it's only five screws. If you see tons of sludge then you need to clean your tank out, but that still doesn't mean the diesel is bad,, unless you know the stuff is 8 years old. The other thing is how much crap is in the bowl on the Racor? Just because you have some water in the tank and some algae doesn't mean you have to scrap 25 gals of diesel. The best thing you could find is that the tank is full!! No air means no condensation and little water which means little algae growth.
I'd put some algae treatment in it, get a spare set of filters and run it, keeping a close eye on the bowl on your Racor. You will always have water in the tank... it's a matter of temp change and you can't stop it... that's what filtration is for. Diesel is unlike gasoline in that it can sit around awhile and not really go bad in itself. It gets contaminated by other means. I'd run it.

Ron Hill · May 10, 2013, 06:30:31 PM

Set2 : See if there isn't someone in your area that can "polish" diesel fuel. That is your best bet.

If not I'd pump out that fuel and dispose of it as all it will give you is TROUBLE if you run it through your engine!!

You can pump it out yourself by putting a 3/8" fuel hose on your electric fuel pump OUT side, turn on the key switch and pump the 24 gallons into 5 gal cans. A few thoughts

Ted Pounds · May 10, 2013, 06:51:13 PM

I agree with Ron - pump it and dispose of it properly. When I replaced my tank it was easy to pump it into 5 gallon cans using the fuel pump. At my yard they were happy when I gave them the old fuel to run in their yard equipment. (Also did that with old gas way back when I owned a C25.)

lazybone · May 11, 2013, 08:31:08 AM

I have burned old boat diesel in my home heating system. Very little if any difference (except for taxes) between number #2and road diesel.

Indian Falls · May 11, 2013, 02:34:45 PM

There are two Camps on this topic:

http://www.yesterdaystractors.com/cgi-bin/viewit.cgi?bd=ttalk&th=373550

more again:

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f54/3-year-old-diesel-fuel-13280.html

Ron Hill · May 11, 2013, 05:30:45 PM

Guys : Dan may have a point.
2 camps or Not - I always burn diesel from the supplier that sells the most fuel and keeps it moving out of his storage tanks!!

Believe me it isn't worth my time changing dirty filters and clogged up injectors. I'm on the boat to go sailing - not to screw around with a engine that won't start/run right!! AMEN

My thought

Mike and Joanne Stimmler · May 11, 2013, 11:22:03 PM

My vote is to pump out the old diesel, check the cleanliness of your tank and put new fuel in with new filters. In my opinion, there are too many problems to be caused by dirty or contanimated fuel and for me the peace of mind would be worth the price of the new fuel.

Mike

Set2sea · May 13, 2013, 11:57:22 AM

Well I did pump out the tank and pull for cleaning. I would say that I poured in acetone and swished close to 20 times before I didn't see more black stuff at the bottom of what was poured out.
I reinstalled tank, heat exchanger, replaced a bunch of engine hoses and tried kicking her over but I didn't have any luck getting her started. I didn't push it too much because I wasn't quite sure on the starting procedure. I have a buddy coming to the boat tonight that has a C34.

Mike and Joanne Stimmler · May 13, 2013, 12:21:50 PM

Do you know if you've successfully blead the fuel lines?

Mike

Set2sea · May 13, 2013, 01:27:16 PM

The only attempt at bleading fuel lines was to crack the nut on the top of the Racor. I located what I figured to be the bleed nut on the secondary filter (on engine) and didn't have a metric socket to crack that. That's when I gave up for the evening. Not sure if it was the best way to approach things but I didn't change Racor or secondary yet. I figured I would just try to get her running after replacing the fuel tank and heat exchanger. I haven't located the "knurled knob" yet (on the engine fuel pump?). Some threads have said to open that and others just say to crack nut on secondary.

Les Luzar · May 13, 2013, 02:38:10 PM

I was helping a friend with a C-34, (1988) burp his engine after adding a new HX and exhaust riser and I took the attached picture (wish my engine looked like this!). You can see the knurled knob on the bottom left of the photo (Starbord Side of Engine) right in front of the air filter. Open this knob to bleed the air out of your fuel lines and let the fuel pump run for about a minute. I have never had to open the bleed valve on my secondary filter (engine mounted). So this may do the trick for you.